This Photographer Made Out With His Subjects Before Taking Their Photos And The Results Are Mesmerising

For the last three years, photographer Jedediah Johnson has made a career out of putting on lipstick, making out with people, and taking photos of the often messy results.

The series, called The Makeout Project, attempts to change our preconceived notions about kissing. In American culture, Johnson says, kissing is inseparable from sex and intimacy. In many other cultures, it means something else entirely.

At the beginning of the project, Johnson made out with only friends and friends of friends. As his work has gained popularity due to his blog Makeoutville, he has started to get requests from random people on the internet. This year, he traveled to Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis on, what he has termed, “The Great Midwestern Makeout Tour.” He is currently planning a road trip to Toronto this August to scout out more potential makeout subjects.

Johnson began The Makeout Project by putting on lipstick at parties, going up to random people, and kissing them. He says he didn’t ask permission at the beginning because people’s knee-jerk reaction is always no.

Jedediah Johnson

While he says the project worked in the beginning — and had far less negative reactions than one might think — he eventually decided it would be better if he set up appointments with people who knew what was coming. “I got tired of trying to kiss people without asking,” he said. “You start to feel like a jerk after a while.”

Since his blog Makeoutville has become popular, he has taken on requests from people all over the country. This man from Chicago asked Johnson to photograph him after reading an article about the project in DNAInfo. Johnson says the man was uncomfortable during the makeout and pulled away quickly, which Johnson found odd because he asked Johnson to come and photograph him.